I read numerous books and websites that talked about NEVER keeping your puppy in a crate for longer than 4 hours, so when I first got Mason at 10 weeks, I got a puppy gate and kept him in a kitchen along with his wee-wee pad, toys, food and water. Mason was alone between 7am - 5pm.
When he reached 7 months, I started to allow Mason to have the whole house (except the bedrooms and bathrooms). The kitchen seemed too small for him to be confined in for 10 hours. He is very good about going to potty on his wee-wee pad so I felt ok letting him have the run of the house. I did, however, made sure that the house was puppy-proof, meaning all the electric cords were pinned to a wall so that he cannot chew on it. It's been about a month now and I have not come home to a disaster yet!!
You'll find a way to work things out with your puppy once he/she arrives. I used to worry TONS about Mason before he arrived, but things just worked out as I got used to him and understood him over time. I didn't even apply half the things I read in my puppy-rearing process. Best of luck!! |